It wouldn't do me very well to be in one of those snake handling churches, seeing as how I stay as far away as possible from the little varmints. Today I made an exception for this little guy who was trapped inside of the hole that Forrest has dug behind the house. I saved its life, hopefully so it can keep the field mice away from the house.
It is one of God's creatures and if possible I will help them out if I am able to. I have been known to shoo a fly out of a window or door instead of squashing it with a newspaper or helping a turtle cross the road. It's just how I was made, to have compassion for animals. Well, except for cats, that is. I can do without cats, but my wife doesn't think so.
I have no idea what kind of snake that was. It was rather small, about the size of a large night-crawler, so it was fairly new. I am sure when it gets older I will not want anything to do with it. I'm sure the Apostle Paul didn't want anything to do with that snake in Acts 28 on the island of Malta, but it wanted something to do with him. Apparently Paul had picked up the snake while gathering wood for the fire and the snake happened to be camouflaged as a stick. The snake didn't take too kindly to being burned so it showed its displeasure by latching on the Paul's hand. The natives thought for sure this was a judgment against Paul for some past bad deed, but were very surprised that he just shook the snake off and was not affected by its venom. It had to have been poisonous because those natives expected Paul to have some adverse reactions to it. Instead, God had already made plans for Paul to do other things, so the snakes ploy (and Satan's) failed.
How many times has God stopped something terrible from affecting you, to allow you on the path that He foreordained for you? Countless times for me. I have been sure that the venom from bad choices would cause some real pain and swelling in my walk, but God just uses it as a reminder to me that I need to stay focused on Him, shake off Satan's advances and keep working for His kingdom. I fail miserably daily, I am a evil man and I need God's grace to see me through the day. I can relate to Paul in His mentality of doing the things he didn't want and not doing the things he does want. I don't want to fail my Lord, but I do, but thankfully He allows those failures to be used to seek Him even more. My sins may not be shaken off completely, but they no longer are latched onto me in a death grip. All this because God loves me.
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